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Nicol Horrell, Environment Southland Councillor, has questioned the accuracy and completeness of data in an emvironmental Report prepared by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ. (File photo)
Nicol Horrell, Environment Southland chairman, has reservations about some information in a major Government report.
The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ published the following: Environment Aotearoa 2022According to a report last month, Southland has lost 394 hectares of its indigenous land cover in the period 2012-2018, the largest net loss in any region of the country.
Horrell, however, was shocked at the extent of deforestation that had been done for pasture use at the Environment Southland strategy-policy committee meeting on Wednesday.
It’s an appalling figure if correct… it just doesn’t seem to gel well with what we see, he said.
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Cr Jeremy McPhail questioned if the report considered new plantings and areas that were fenced off to create new wetlands.
McPhail stated, “We always see what’s lost, but not what’s being done.”
Horrell also wondered why Tuatapere received a poor rating in cultural health. This evaluates a site’s accessibility and ability to perform mahinga-kai. [food gathering]Activities and cultural instream health
The problem was evident before the sewerage scheme was installed many years ago. He stated that if there is still an issue, he would like to know why.
According to the report, Murihiku Southland was responsible for almost half (or 2,665 hectares) of the total loss. The Southland coast has seen a 0.2-0.6 degree Celsius increase in sea-surface temperature between 2002 & 2018. This is a 10 year increase.
Councillors also criticised the fact the most recent data used for the report was already five-years old and that there had been no progress on environmental issues during that time.
John Hawkins/Stuff
Robert Guyton, Environment Southland councillor, stated that there was an increase in anquishment from fellow councillors who are farmers, based on the environmental report.
Robert Guyton, a councillor, speculated that a group of farmers was challenging the data in the report.
It’s just an observation. Im not saying they are wrong. Im just saying that an outsider’s view of the data revealed that there was an uprising about it. This isnt coming from city folk.
He did not identify any councillors.
Robert, do you think that we just get out and start to look around? Cr Allan Baird spoke out, before Eric Roy (chairman of the committee) shut him down. Roy stated that Guytons point was not up for debate.
Horrell claimed that the report wasn’t clear and he asked Lucy Hicks, the policy and planning manager to report back.
Robert thinks we were being defensive. However, I want accuracy. If it is right, we must own it. If it is unclear or we are sending mixed messages, that is my concern.
